How It Starts
by vampirediva07
Summary: It all started with one of them caving. Can Brennan accept that love exists?
1. Make Love To Me

Brennan sank into her chair and moved the mouse on her computer. It had been a long day, but it was finally over and most everyone had gone home. Brennan honestly hated days like this where nothing was productive or conclusive in her examination of some remains, but she knew that there were bound to be days like this. The case she and Booth were working on was at a stand-still, so there was nothing more she could do that she hadn't already done three times over with the remains.

It was the dead middle of the summer in Washington DC, meaning it was humid and miserable. So Brennan had shed her lab coat to sit in her office in her tank top while she started writing on her next novel. Her last one was successful, as usual, so she decided to get a jump start on the next one so her publisher wouldn't be hounding at her later when she was extremely busy with her work in the lab. She had been writing the latest sex scene between Kathy and a guy she met on a case down in Florida. It was a steamy hookup, even though Angela had helped her fill in some of the details for it. Despite her pregnancy, Angela remained determined to help out with the novels because of her vast sexual knowledge and ability to put that into words. Brennan was grateful for the help though since she seemed incapable of putting passion into a sex scene the way most readers wanted to read it.

As she worked, she thought of the past couple of months. Booth had come home with a girlfriend from Afghanistan, Angela and Hodgins were expecting their first baby within the next couple of weeks, and she had pretty much remained the same. Booth and Hannah's relationship floundered not too long after their return after an argument because Hannah had been shot. And things returned to normal after his mourning period, during which she was supportive in her own way, stating that relationships weren't meant to work out since humans weren't monogamous in the first place. Something about that, or the way she said that time healed everything probably stuck because Booth was back to himself a few weeks later. They were just Booth and Brennan again, which felt right to her. She had missed her partner while he was dating someone. They hadn't been themselves while he was seeing someone else and that was not okay with her. If she was honest, it broke her heart everyday to see him with someone else, but that was not something she had ever told anyone…even Angela. He had opened Pandora's Box before leaving for Afghanistan and she hadn't been able to shut the lid since. But that was not something she really wanted to talk about in the first place.

Glancing at the clock, she saw it was after eight pm, meaning she had been at the lab just about twelve hours. She sighed and stared at the computer screen, wondering where she could go from her current spot in the story. The sex scene had been finished, but the after part was what she was having difficulty with. Unlike most people, Brennan wasn't one to really focus on what happened after. She was focused usually on the act itself. The harder she thought about it, the more irritated she began to get with not being able to think of something different to write. A knock at the door caused her to spin around, breaking her train of thought. Booth was standing there with a bag of what smelled like Thai food and a couple of beers.

"Hey Bones," he greeted, stepping in. "Angela said you were still up at your office working on your next book, so I thought you might want something to eat."

"Oh, thank you Booth," she said, pushing her chair back from the desk and swiveling around to face him. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, which was rare since she was used to seeing him in three-piece suits. But this was nice since they weren't technically at work.

"No problem," he said, stepping over and putting the bag of food on her desk in the open space. "Everybody's gotta eat right?"

"Yes, that is true. Food is the sustenance that gives energy, although I'm certain that eating this late is not good," she said, smiling impishly. "I do appreciate it though. Sometimes I get wrapped up in my work and forget what time it is."

"I know. We've worked together over six years, so I think I know my partner pretty well," he said, chuckling a little as he pulled up a spare chair from nearby.

She smiled, knowing that she knew him just as well as he knew her. Little details about him that no one else really knew, like his love of striped socks or the fact that he wore his _cocky_ belt buckle just to piss off his superiors and strut his individuality as a leader in a very uniform society. She knew that he was worried about being a good father to Parker and that he believed in the ability to love one single person his entire life, even though he'd had his fair share of relationships. Booth liked pie when she didn't and he always used his gut instinct when working on a case or thinking about something where she used her intellect and rationality. Together they were probably the most odd combination for partners, but whatever they had worked.

"I guess I'll head out and let you get back to working on whatever you were working on before I got here," he said, half-way turning around to leave her office.  
Impulsively, she reached out and touched his arm. "You don't have to go," she said as he turned to look at her again. "You can stay and eat dinner with me...like we used to. I don't mind the company."  
"You sure Bones?" he asked, looked her in the eyes. "Because I don't want to bother your creativeness if you're on a roll."  
"I'm positive this won't interfere with my writing," she said, smirking a little at him. "And I am happy to share my food since I probably won't be able to finish all of it."  
Booth laughed. "Alright, I'll stay."  
Brennan smiled and sat down at her desk as Booth pulled over another chair to sit down in front of her. Opening the bag, she pulled out the Thai food he had brought her, smiling that he remembered which restaurant was the one they always went to. Splitting the food almost evenly, she and Booth started eating and talking about the latest case they were working on. Booth hadn't really gotten anywhere in the interviews for a suspect, so they were hoping that the next round of interviews would be more successful. Brennan didn't understand how Booth did it, but he seemed to be able to pick out who was guilty or who knew information they needed based on their body language. It was an oddity that she could not explain away with any practical knowledge, but it worked and she wasn't going to question whatever worked for them. She, however, strictly stuck to the facts. It was what she was comfortable with and what she knew best.

When they had spent over an hour talking, Booth decided it was best that he went on home and offered to walk Brennan to her car. After the Grave-Digger incident, Booth had taken no chances with Brennan's safety, which she both appreciated and somewhat annoyed. She was a strong, capable woman trained in self-defense, but at the same time could understand Booth's desire to protect her. After reluctantly agreeing, she grabbed her coat and began to walk out the door at the same time he did, both of them getting wedged in the door like always. When she turned sideways, she found herself directly facing Booth in a close proximity they had not had since before Booth had gone to Afghanistan and she had gone to Maluku. She could feel his breath on her and see his chocolate brown eyes. He still smelled the same as he always did, which was something Brennan had grown accustomed to over the years and even found comforting. Without hesitation, she leaned forward and kissed him, pulling on his black shirt to bring him closer to her. Instead of fighting it like she once had before, she gave into his body and melted against him. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Breaking the kiss, she looked into his eyes, which were uncertain and confused.

"Bones...what just happened?" he asked, not backing away from her like she feared he would.

"I'm not...I am not sure," she replied unconfidently, emotions swirling within her. Heat rose to her face, making it blush a bright crimson color. "Lately I...I find myself wondering what would have happened if I had not pushed you away that night. The night you told me you were the gambler and wanted to give this a chance."

"But you said that you were the scientist and couldn't change," he countered, looking directly into her eyes.

"I find that...even though science is a sure thing...it is always changing. And one must adapt to those changes or be forever stuck in the past. Even I can change, or so I've learned over the past year," she said, letting go of the death grip she held on his shirt.

"What are you saying?" Booth asked directly.

"I want you to prove to me that two people can exist as one," she said, looking him straight in the eyes. Ice blue meeting warm chocolate. "Make love to me."

**

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A/N: Like it? Should I continue?**


	2. Long Time Coming

Brennan could tell that she had taken Booth off guard by the look on his face. He had not been expecting her to request anything like she had, but she wasn't going to back down from it. For too long, Temperance Brennan had been afraid to expose herself to the one person who knew her better than any other living soul. Her heart was racing as she looked into his eyes honestly, searching for the answer to her request. She could see that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him. But it was much more than a biological urge like she thought. There was a sense of longing there that she had seen before, the night he confessed to her that he believed they deserved a chance. She felt that same sense of longing now.

"What?" he asked, the hint of surprise obvious in his voice.

"I want you to make love to me," she repeated firmly, never breaking her gaze from his eyes.

"Are you serious?" he inquired.

"I have never been the joking type Booth," she said. "You said you loved me and that two people who love each other can become one. I want you to show me. Prove that to me."

Without hesitation, he leaned forward and took her lips by surprise in a kiss that was more powerful than before. Moving back into her office, she shut the door behind them and locked it, using her free hand to draw the blinds so no one who happened to be in the building would get a show. His lips were attached to hers as she was backed further into her office. Booth pushed her jacket from her shoulders and she let it fall to the floor, not even caring at this point. Lifting her hands under the hem of his shirt, she pulled it over his head and traced her hands down his bare chest. Even though she had seen it before, it was different now...somehow more intimate. She had always known that Booth's body was perfectly built and athletic, but she was able to appreciate it more now.

Lifting her arms, she allowed him to remove her tank top. The look in his eyes was like he had discovered something for the first time. As he leaned forward and kissed her neck, she turned to allow him better access to the sensitive skin that lay there while her hands traced down his muscular chest down to his "cocky" belt buckle. She had always loved that belt buckle since he decided to wear it years ago, but never really told him. Working her hands, she unclasped it and pulled it through the loops before discarding it on the floor with his coat. Finding his lips with her own, she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants before pushing them down to the floor. He stepped out of them and kicked them aside as they moved further into her office, finding the button and zipper to her pants. Brennan felt her dress pants being pushed off her hips and down her legs before stepping out of them. His hands rested on her hips as she backed into her desk and helped her up to sit on the flat surface. Grazing her nails down his side, she found the top of his boxers and began to push at them. She remembered the last time she had been this close to his boxers, he had recited some saints. But there was definitely no saint reciting this time.

Nudging them down enough, Brennan saw Booth's package for the first time. And though she had gone through her fair share of sexual partners, there was none that compared to Booth. This was not just going to be sex, but something far different. Looking back up into his eyes, she smiled at him and pulled him down to her so she could kiss him again, finding the taste of his lips and tongue to be something she now craved. Trailing her hand down his chest, she stopped when she found what she was looking for. As they kissed, she gently ran her hand up and down his length to arouse him. Although, it wasn't difficult since he already seemed to be mostly aroused by the sight of her in her undergarments. Booth broke their kiss and laid her back on her desk. Thankfully, there wasn't really anything on it, aside from her keyboard, which was easily moved. Brennan felt his lips trace down her neck to the tops of her breasts before he pulled her bra straps down to expose them. The cooler air of the room caused them to become erect just before she felt his mouth cover one while his hand massaged the other.

"Booth..." she whimpered, arching into his touch from the desk.

She needed him. More than she had ever needed another person in her life and could feel against her thigh that he needed her too. Her core was aching to be touched and paid attention to, but she was patient as he trailed his hands down her sides to the tops of her panties. Lifting her hips, she allowed him to remove them slowly. When they dropped to the floor, she was completely bare in front of him, but felt no shame. Temperance Brennan was not a shy woman. Watching him as he marveled at her, she smiled and pulled him back down to her. His lips were warm and contoured to hers as she felt him right at her entrance. Lifting her hips, she urged him to take her, whimpering beneath his lips. A brief moment passed before she felt him enter her slowly and teasingly, causing her to hiss into their kiss. Taking him all the way in, she felt a brief pause before he pulled back and then thrust into her again. A slow but steady rhythm began as he rocked his hips into hers. Brennan trailed her hands down his biceps and kneaded the muscle there in time to his thrusts, pulling him closer to her. Their lips met and tongues tangled as they began to make love.

Booth was long and wide, filling her completely and touching every nerve ending within her, causing Brennan to clench her pelvic muscles around him. Doing so only heightened every sensation that she felt. She felt him tensing and knew he was close by the look in his eyes. Her breathing quickened with every thrust into her body, signaling her that she was close as well. She could feel it. His pace quickened as they both were dangerously close to the edge. When she came, it was a force so powerful that her entire body shook and she dug her nails into his shoulder-blades.

"Booth!" she cried out, throwing her head back and letting her body ride out the waves of her orgasm.

Booth came a few thrusts later, collapsing on her body on the desk. Brennan's breathing was irradic and shallow for a few moments while she came down from the heights of her pleasure. When she was alert enough, she looked down at Booth with a smile on her face before drawing him into a slow and romantic kiss. Before today, she had not understood what it meant to make love to someone. She had only known what were the biological urges of sex, but never what emotional strings could be attached to them. Looking into his eyes, she could see that there was something deeper there than just satisfaction. It was the look of admiration that he had often given her when they were working together and she had said something that was more on the emotional side. His chocolate brown eyes were always a great comfort to her and now they were even more so.

"What happens now?" she asked, looking at him with seriousness and passion.

"What do you mean?" he asked in reply.

"We just had sex in my office...on my desk. Does this mean that we are a couple?" She sat up with him as he pulled out of her.

"We can be," he replied, brushing some of her hair away from her neck to kiss it gently. "Do you want to be?"

"I do. But the FBI doesn't allow relationships between liaisons and agents...unless that rule has changed since I last checked," she said, almost in a whisper. She knew the rules inside and out and abode by them, but this was different.

"That rule has not changed, but what if we kept it between us?" he suggested, looking into her eyes. "Most everyone assumes that we are more than just partners...so why not? We wouldn't have to tell anyone since everyone already assumes."

"And your boss? I don't think Hacker would really appreciate finding out that you and I were dating, especially since he had taken an interest in me before I left for Maluku." Brennan knew that he really only wanted to sleep with her, but resisted because he was Booth's boss.

"He knows that you and I are the best, so he would never do anything to jeopardize his own job," Booth coolly replied.

Brennan nodded, taking in everything at once. The options and odds were all against them, but she was tired of not taking a risk when people said she should. All of her life, she had spent shutting people out and not living. This was different because she wanted to take that risk with Booth.

"Then we're in this...together," she said, kissing him once. Brennan knew that by putting her all in, she was gambling. Luckily for her, Booth was a betting man.

She wouldn't know the hell that lay ahead. Neither of them did.

**

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A/N: I was absolutely OVERWHELMED by the response I got for my first chapter. Thank you all SO much for the sweet reviews. I hope this chapter fulfills your expectations and expect more in the future! There is lots of drama coming! Please review!**


	3. Consequences Pt 1

Brennan walked into her office, feeling slightly more off than usual. She had woken up earlier that morning with some intense nausea, so she had taken longer to get ready between bouts of emptying her stomach into the porcelain toilet in her bathroom. Showering had been miserable between trying not to throw up and clean herself up for work. She knew that the stomach flu was going around since both Cam and Daisy had both had it the previous week, but didn't think that it should keep her from work, so she came in anyways. She had already been sick for over two days, so she figured the worst of it was over and she was no longer contagious to anyone. Luckily, she had been sick over the majority of the weekend rather than during the work week. Missing work was not something that Temperance Brennan did easily or readily. She was both stubborn and unmoving in that aspect of her life.

Walking into her office, she put her bottle of Sprite down on her desk that she had picked up on her way in to hopefully settle her stomach before sitting down in her chair. The cool leather felt good on her back as it helped settle her down a little before she rubbed her temples to further relax herself for the long day of work ahead. It wasn't until she heard a knock on the door that she happened to look up to see a heavily pregnant Angela standing there. Her best friend was within a few days of her due date and was expected to deliver at any given moment, which was both exciting and somewhat of a reality check for Brennan. Since she had considered the thought of having a child in previous years, the reality that she wasn't getting any younger really hit her. But she pushed those thoughts aside and motioned for Angela to come in.

"Hey sweetie," Angela greeted as she walked in, shutting the door behind her, one of her hands over her stomach to balance herself. "I thought I might find you in here since you weren't out on the platform."

"I haven't felt well all weekend Angela," Brennan readily explained. It was unusual that she hid out in her office for any length of time, other than to work on her novels. "I wouldn't stand too close in case that I am still contagious. That would not be good for you or the baby."

Angela nodded. "You should have called. I would have sent Hodgins over with some soup or something for you."

"Oh I was perfectly fine...I couldn't really keep much down anyways," she replied, shaking her head and taking a sip of the Sprite. "I still feel quite nauseated, but not as much."

"Have you tried eating some crackers or something?" Angela asked in a motherly tone. "At least something to settle your stomach."

"I did, but most of it came right back up within a few hours...it was unpleasant so I did not think eating would be a good idea until I stopped vomiting for more than a few hours," she said, shaking her head. Food was not appeasing in any shape, form, or fashion at this point.

"Well don't let yourself go too long without eating or drinking anything," Angela warned softly. "The last thing we need is you in the hospital with dehydration, especially when my due date is right around the corner and I want you there with me."

Brennan smiled softly. "You know I wouldn't miss that Ange. I promised I would be there and I intend of keeping my promise to you."

Angela beamed and folded both her hands over her stomach. "Did Booth stop by and check on you this weekend?" she asked, raising her eyebrow suspiciously.

"Why would he?" Brennan asked, cocking her head to the side. "I'm sure he had other things to attend to this weekend other than me."

"Oh, I don't know...maybe because you were sick and needed someone to take care of you. Maybe it's because you've been seeing each other for weeks now without telling your best friend." Angela smiled smugly, like a child that had just figured out what they were getting for Christmas.

Looking up quickly in shock, Brennan tried to think of a way out of that situation. No one else knew about her relationship with Booth. No one but Booth. They had agreed to keep it secret for a while because the risk of losing their partnership and Booth losing his job. Angela couldn't have known...not unless she was spying on them or just had some innate ability to know things like that. Then again, Angela had always been like that in their friendship. She knew things about Brennan that not even Brennan knew right away...like her initial feelings for Booth, which she adamantly denied over and over again until she finally admitted it to Booth. But, sitting there in her office with her best friend, she could no longer deny it. Angela deserved to know the truth first and foremost because they were friends.

"Yes, Booth did stop by to check on me," she answered finally. It was most of the truth. Booth had stopped by, but he never left either. He had stayed the entire weekend to take care of her, even after she insisted that she was fine. Brennan took a deep breath and looked at Angela. "And yes, Booth and I have been together for the past couple of weeks...about two months now."

Angela clapped her hands excitedly and grinned. "Oh my God, Bren! Finally!" Her expression relayed the intense joy she felt and Brennan knew she would feel since she had been proposing that Brennan and Booth be together since the very beginning.

"But you cannot tell anyone else about it Ange," she warned, knowing that it would sever the partnership she and Booth had taken years to build. The FBI wouldn't care either...unless Booth was right in saying that Hacker wouldn't do it because it would be career suicide for him to lose his best team. "If anyone else knows...the FBI could end Booth and I's partnership since agents are not supposed to date liaisons."

Nodding understandingly, Angela took a seat across from Brennan and looked at her. "Sweetie, I'm going to ask you a question...but you have to answer me honestly."

Brennan looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Okay."

"How long have you and Booth been sleeping together?" she asked, straightforward and bluntly.

"Eight weeks...give or take a day or two," Brennan replied just as straightforward and blunt as Angela had asked. "It started one night when I was working on my novel and Booth stopped by with food because you had told him I was probably still working in my office. We had sex on my desk."

"Wow...I had no idea what that night would have turned into when I sent him to bring you something to eat," Angela said, laughing for a moment before regaining her train of thought. "How long have you been sick like this?"

"A couple of days...it's worse in the morning and at night before I go to sleep," she said, holding her hand to her mouth a moment after, feeling a wave of nausea hit her again. Quickly holding her hand up, she grabbed her small trash can below her desk and retched into it. Embarrassed, she put it back down and grabbed a tissue from the box on her desk to clean her mouth off.

Angela was looking at her, wide-eyed and mouth agape when Brennan finally looked up again. Furrowing her eyebrows, Brennan didn't know why her best friend was looking at her so strangely. It wasn't like she hadn't seen someone get sick before now, so she didn't understand why this was so weird now to her. It was human nature to get sick and go through periods where the immune system was weaker than at other times. Biologically, it made sense to Brennan.

"What?" she finally asked after several awkward moments of silence that not even Brennan could stand.

"Sweetie...I'm going to ask you a couple questions, but you have to be honest with me. Completely and totally honest," Angela said, folding her hands on her lap and looking Brennan straight in the eyes with conviction.

Brennan nodded in agreement. "Okay. I will be completely honest with you."

"Does your nausea come and go?" Angela asked.

"Yes."

"Are your breasts tender at all?" she continued with the questions.

Brennan thought about it for a moment before nodding. "They have been recently, yes."

"Have you had your period recently?"

If there could have been any more silence, someone could have heard a feather drop. Brennan felt her heart stop with the realization that she had not had her period. It was late...more than late. It was non-existent and had been since...since the night she first slept with Booth. Her thoughts were swirling in her mind and she couldn't form the words she needed to tell Angela the truth. Instead, she shook her head.

"Did you and Booth use any protection?"

"Yes...I mean, after that first night...we did. But that first time...no, we didn't," she replied, biting her bottom lip. How could she have been so stupid that first night? She had wanted Booth so badly that she hadn't even thought about birth control or any sort of protection. Not that she thought Booth carried any sort of sexually transmitted diseases, but pregnancy had been the furthest thing from her mind. Now it was on the forefront of a complete panic.

"We need to get a test for you sweetie," Angela finally said. The words of that sentence sunk Brennan's heart.

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**A/N: Here's the next chapter! I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but I hope this makes up for it...get ready for hell to break loose! Please review and let me know your thoughts. :)**

**XOXO  
**


	4. Consequences Pt 2

In hindsight, Brennan knew that she should have seen the signs of pregnancy right away. She knew that she would have recognized the nausea and vomiting, shifting ilia, and other symptoms in other women, but didn't think twice about it herself. Her missing period was something she hadn't even thought about recently because her mind was in a hundred other places with work, her relationship with Booth, keeping her relationship with Booth a secret, and getting ready for Angela to go on maternity leave. The absolute _last _thing on her mind was a pregnancy of her own. But she couldn't be...that would ruin everything. People would know that the baby was Booth's because he wouldn't deny it. He would never deny a child that was his own, especially one that came from their union. After asking him to be the sperm donor for her child two years ago, she knew that he had wanted to be involved in their child's life, so she couldn't deny him that. But getting pregnant right off the bat was not what Temperance Brennan had planned.

Looking at Angela, she slowly nodded as she said that they needed to go get a test for her. A pregnancy test. That was something new for Brennan. She had always been so careful before, always made sure that there was protection when she had sex. But with Booth, it was so different. What made it different was what scared her most. For the longest time, Brennan had never believed in love. She thought it a simple chemical imbalance in the brain that caused a biological response in both males and females through arousal. But, with Booth, she felt something different. He was one of her closest friends and partner. Many times he had both saved her life and put his own on the line for her. They were together now in many ways beyond just having sex that Brennan had never had before. But a baby was not what she had planned in any way yet. She and Booth had not even discussed the possibility of having children.

"Come on sweetie," Angela urged, standing up after great difficulty with her own pregnant belly. "Let's go get you that test and we can go back to your apartment to take it. I'll just tell Hodgins I'm taking you home since you're not feeling so hot."

Brennan stood up and nodded, giving a faint smile. "I'll tell Cam I'm taking the rest of the day off since I'm not feeling well."

"She'll understand since she had that stomach bug last week," Angela said encouragingly. "The last thing she wants is for it to be going around again, so she won't question it."

Ten minutes later she and Angela were in her car and driving toward the drug store that was near her apartment. While browsing the shelves in the store, Brenna couldn't bring herself to pick out a pregnancy test herself since she was still in shock. Angela picked out the one with digital read out instead of one of the tests that had the lines or plus signs. Simplicity was probably best in this situation considering Brennan was already shaken about the possibility of being pregnant. After going to the register and purchasing the box, which had three tests inside of it, she and Angela returned to her car and headed for home. When she arrived and parked in her usual spot, she took a moment to breathe before getting out and walking to her apartment, Angela following in tow with the box of tests.

Unlocking the door to her apartment, she stepped inside and shut the door behind Angela before putting her keys down on the counter. Taking a moment, she breathed in and looked to her best friend as Angela handed her the box of tests to go take one.

"I'll be waiting right outside the door for you," Angela gently said.

"Thank you," Brennan said, leaning forward and hugging Angela lightly before turning around and walking into the bathroom.

Less than two minutes later, Brennan had taken the first test and was pacing the bathroom while waiting on the results. Three minutes. Three little minutes was all it would take to tell her the truth about if she was pregnant or not. Her heels clicked on the floor as she paced, waiting and wondering. Would she be a good mother? She was socially awkward at best and didn't get most pop culture references to save her life, but she cared. If there was one thing to be said about her, she cared a lot more than people thought she did. There were days when she cried just like any other human being and days when she was irritated and angry. Even if she didn't know how to show her emotions as well as most other people, they were still there and just as valid as any other person's. And right now, she was nervous like any other woman wondering if she was pregnant or not. When she realized that the time had passed, she looked down at the test and felt her heart stop.

_Pregnant_

The words sank into Brennan's heart like a battleship sinking in the middle of the ocean. This was reality now. Unbelieving and a scientist herself, Brennan took the two remaining tests, waiting the three minutes between each one. Again, all the same results. Angela's hypothesis was true and she was pregnant. The weight of that was pushing on her heart as she read a light rapping at the bathroom door and Angela's gentle voice on the other side.

"Bren? Are you alright in there...it's been over twenty minutes."

"I'm fine," she said, lying through her teeth as she stared at the three tests on the sink. They all seemed to be laughing at her, mocking her. She thought about the nights she and Booth had shared wine together and cringed at the thought of what it might have done to the baby growing inside of her. She'd seen the statistics for infant mortality if the mother drank and felt awful for what could happen now.

"Is the test done?" Angela's voice asked from the other side of the door.

Deciding it was time to face the music, Brennan threw away all three tests, washed her hands in the sink, opened the door of the bathroom and stepped out. Looking at Angela, she nodded. "It's positive...all three were positive."

"Oh...you took all three?" Angela inquired, arching her eyebrow suspisciously.

"I did...I needed to be absolutely positive," Brennan replied. "But they were all positive, as you suspected. I am pregnant."

Angela grinned and wrapped her arms around Brennan as best she could with a belly in her way. "That is wonderful Bren! You said that you wanted a baby two years ago and now you're finally going to have one."

Slowly and hesitantly nodding, Brennan knew that Angela was right. She had wanted a child two years ago with Booth. There wasn't another soul alive that she wanted to have a child with other than him. He had all she was looking for and more in someone to share a genetic child with, but having that reality staring her in the face after she and Booth didn't go through with the sperm donation two years previously because of his brain tumor was something she had not expected. It was out of her control, which was not something Brennan liked at all. The control factor was what she needed. She didn't choose to get pregnant this time...it just happened out of something she and Booth started because they finally admitted what everyone had been telling them for years. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she looked up at Angela helplessly.

"I just didn't expect this to happen so soon," she said honestly and plainly. "I wanted to have some time with Booth to myself before having to share him with someone else like a child."

"Oh sweetie," Angela said comfortingly, wrapping her arms around her again. "It'll be okay. You'll see."

Pulling herself together again and getting in a rational frame of mind, Brennan breathed deeply. "I am just in shock. This was not something that was planned or expected, so I just need to adjust."

"And tell Booth," Angela added. "You know that he will want to know as soon as possible since he wanted to be there the first go-round when you only wanted him as a sperm donor. Now that you two are really together and pregnant, he'll want to be there every step of the way."

"And tell Booth," she agreed, swallowing. That was one thing she was not sure about. Booth would be happy they were having a child together, but would it destroy their budding relationship or bring them closer together? That Brennan didn't know. And the unknown was not something she dealt with very well as a scientist and rationally minded woman.

"Figure out some way to spend some time alone with him...maybe do something romantic like dinner, and just tell him," Angela suggested. "When I told Hodgins that I was pregnant...it was just the two of us together at lunch. He was so happy when I told him."

"But you two were married and had been for some time, plus you dated for years before that...Booth and I haven't had that long of a time together with just the two of us." Brennan felt selfish for saying that, but she knew it was true. She had wanted more time alone with him.

"I understand...just talk to him hun," Angela urged gently. "Things will work themselves out like they're supposed to."

"I don't believe in fate."

"You didn't believe in love either," she retorted. To that, Brennan had no reply.

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**A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! Please keep them coming and let me know what your thoughts are!**


	5. Confessions

A few days passed after Brennan learned she was pregnant. After confirming the pregnancy with her gynecologist through a blood test, she knew that she had to tell Booth. He was becoming worried about her behavior and bouts of nausea, followed by the usual vomiting that accompanied it. While continuing to tell him that she was fine, he was starting to get more suspicious of her bahavior and demanding that she see a doctor. Angela urged her to tell him the truth, but she just couldn't bring herself to do that just yet when she knew how uncertain she was about the whole thing to begin with. Never before had she felt so vulnerable to someone else, like his happiness controlled her own. It was the most irrational and stupid thing she had ever experienced, but it was still justifiable in some Anthropological means to her. In most cultures, the happiness of one mate depended on the happiness of the other. It made sense, but Brennan still didn't like it being something she was experiencing right now in her own life.

Finally, after many desperate pleas from Angela and Booth's constant insistence that she see a doctor, Brennan decided that it was time to tell him before everyone lost their minds. Coming home from work, she called Booth and told him to come over, mentioning that she needed someone to come over to help her with something. Since he assumed she was still sick, he agreed without questioning, which Brennan was thankful for because she didn't want to lose her nerve. When she hung up the phone, she held her hand to her stomach almost instinctively and felt a little nauseated. She wondered how something so small could effect her so much already. For years she had known all the symptoms of pregnancy, but experiencing it from the other side was something totally different. Angela had been telling her for months now what a different experience it was and she hadn't understood until now what that meant. Thinking on that, she jumped as she heard a knock on the door that caught her off-guard. As she walked over, she peeked through the peep hole and saw that it was Booth. A deep breath later, she unlocked the door and let him in.

"Hey Bones," he said as he walked in, holding a paper sack in his hand.

"Hello," she replied, watching him put the sack down on her bar. He pulled out a few bottles of Sprite and some crackers, all presumably for her. She smiled at his thoughtfulness. "Thank you for coming over...I didn't know what you were doing tonight or if you had previously made plans, so I apologize if I interrupted anything."

"You know I would drop anything to come over here," he said, walking over and wrapping his arms around her to envelope her in a hug, kissing her forehead.

"Well, thank you," she said, almost in a whisper as she sank into his embrace. For some reason she didn't understand, she just wanted to be held and comforted. Part of that, she could attribute to her hormones being imbalanced, but the other part she knew was from how much she cared for Booth. He had brought out this side of her that no one else had seen before and that she kept between the two of them.

"You said you needed some help with something?" he asked, looking down at her while keeping his arms wrapped around her.

Brennan swallowed hard and looked up at him, instantly picturing the child growing in her womb and what it would look like when it was actually born and here. It was something she hadn't done until now since it seemed illogical because the baby wasn't any bigger than a peanut currently, but seeing Booth reminded her that this child was half of him. She could see his soft features set into a child's face. His warm brown eyes and enchanting smile on a cherub's face that would be their child. It was the first image that came to her mind and she couldn't help but fall in love with that image.

"Not exactly," she said, stepping away from him. "Booth, there is something I need to tell you, but I am not sure how you will react."

Booth looked at her, concerned and confused. "What do you mean? Is something the matter Bones?"

Brennan shook her head. "I...am pregnant Booth. About eight weeks. I'm due in May."

Watching Booth, she could see the look of shock on his face that quickly faded into a genuine smile. "You mean you and I are going to have a baby?" he asked, stepping closer to her again.

"That is exactly what I mean," she said, biting her lip. "I know that we've used protection since starting our relationship, but that first time...in my office that night you brought me dinner while I was working on my novel, we did not. One time was all it took."

Booth came forward and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. Feeling his warmth, Brennan sank into his chest and laid her head there for a moment, listening to his heart beat. It was beating rapidly from excitement, so Brennan knew that he wasn't angry. The smile on his face gave away his emotions all too easily for even Brennan to read.

"Are you happy about this?" she asked, looking up at him hesitantly.

"I am Bones," he replied. "Are you?"

"I am nervous...and still somewhat in shock from finding out, but I have wanted a child. I recall asking you to be a sperm donor because I didn't want to share a genetic child with anyone else but you," she said, her eyes gazing into his sincerely. "I just didn't expect it to happen so soon after we started a relationship."

"Sometimes it happens, but you know that I'm not going anywhere. I want to be there for you and for our kid," he said reassuringly.

"Of course," she said, smiling at him. The smile quickly faded as she realized something else that would come of their pregnancy aside from a baby. "But you do know that once people start to find out that you are the father, that puts our partnership in jeopardy. The FBI still has strict ruling on relationships between liaisons and agents."

Losing Booth as a partner was not something that Brennan could deal with. No other agent in the FBI could work with her the way Booth could. Their uncanny partnership had solved so many murders over the years that it was undeniable that they were a success as a partnership. To lose that would cost everyone, not only themselves. The Jeffersonian staff would be reassigned to a new agent or removed from FBI investigations altogether and Booth would be partnerless until they found him an FBI partner to work with. While Booth could probably adjust to that situation, Brennan found that she couldn't. It wasn't an option for her. She needed Booth like she needed oxygen to breathe, both professionally and personally.

"Let me worry about that," he insisted, holding her close and kissing her. "You worry about keeping your health up and the baby's."

"I am not a child, Booth," she chided. "Though I may be carrying one, I am fully capable of handling stress and being pregnant at the same time. Maybe I should speak to Hacker and make him see reason and logic against terminating our partnership?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea Bones," he replied. "He still kind of has a thing for you...if you tell him that you're with me and having my baby, that might make things worse."

"But if you tell him, that would make things better?" she inquired, arching her eyebrow. Males of any and all race, background, ethnicity, and background in life were always fighting over "territory", whether that be land or a female. It was Anthropologically universal through every culture Brennan had ever studied. The term colloquially associated that she had heard most often used was "cock fights", taken from the male chicken fights that used to take place in underground rings. It was always about who had the biggest, best features to attract the females. Which Booth obviously had over Hacker any day.

"Point taken," Booth receded from the argument. "How are we going to approach this then?"

"What if I spoke with Hacker, as I suggested, and tell him straightforward that I never wanted anything between him and I," she suggested. "After tell him that, I can explain to him that you and I are together and expecting a child, but terminating our partnership would be a move that could very well cost him his career due to the number of murder cases being solved going down since you and I work together so well."

"Mention that we solve over half the case load of the FBI office in DC," Booth added. "Most of the cases deemed 'impossible' were solved because of our partnership."

Brennan nodded. "We have a plan," she said, looking at him with a faint smile.

"And we're having a baby," he said, pulling one of his hands around to her stomach. "A beautiful little boy or girl that will look a lot like you and me."

"That is genetically correct," she said, laughing.

The material of her shirt pooled around her still flat stomach that would soon be rounder with the growth of their child. Telling Booth had been easier than she thought, but the biggest obstacle to come would be the right to keep their partnership once people found out that they were together and having a child. Brennan still wasn't sure what kind of mother she would be, but she hoped to be one that her son or daughter would be proud of. Though her social skills were lacking, she already loved this child, which she thought irrational for something that wasn't capable of hearing or seeing anything, much less reciprocating her feelings toward it. But she loved the child regardless because it was half her and half Booth; a creation of their making together. The biggest challenge of her life had been placed in her lap and Brennan felt unprepared and scared, but she had Booth there to help her through it all. He had said he would be there always...now she was about to find out if he truly meant that.

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**A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I thought I'd kick off the new year with an update for you all to read. I truly appreciate all the story alerts and favorites, but I really love reviews! They make writing this all the more fun and encourage me to update faster!**


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